Owning a Bunny in the Philippines 8 - The Baby Rabbit Diarrhea

In the last entry, I was talking about how Ethan almost died because of diarrhea.  I talked about changing his diet from Oxbow Hay to Choppy Hay (both Timothy) since he seems to like that better.  

Most of my research deals with rabbit diets.  I suppose the key mistake I made was not reading enough on baby rabbit diets.  Following his near death experience, I’ve since fed him 5-6 bowls of Choppy Timothy Hay and he has been voracious.  I was similarly concerned about his lack of water intake.  So much so that I even force fed him via a medicine dropper.  It’s clear now that it wasn’t necessary.  As soon as he started eating so much, he also started drinking as much.  From last night continuing to this morning, he has been spritely like he hasn’t been in weeks.  In between all of this, I’ve also given him at least a dozen pellets throughout the day and a couple of handfuls of Oxbow Alfalfa Hay.  Some literature would say unlimited amounts for both pellets and Oxbow Alfalfa Hay.  For now, I will increase the “dosage” but will not go as far as unlimited, except for Timothy Hay.

In this episode, we did call our vet from Vets in Practice.  She advised us to give him a teaspoon of pineapple juice and a few grams of Benebac (sorry I forgot the exact dosage she shared).  

Sadly I think the root cause of his ailment was hunger amidst a tray full of Oxbow Timothy Hay.  For my bigger bunnies, a little bit of tough love forces them to eat leftovers (yeah they all like ‘em new).  But that’s not something I can do with my scrawny baby Ethan.  

So yeah, I think the worst has passed although I’ll still keep an eye on him throughout the night later.   I’m disappointed that after all these years of loving care to my rabbits, I still make seemingly rookie mistakes like that.  I’m just really lucky Ethan pulled through.  

In my next update, perhaps I’ll talk about exactly how much I’ve gone with this Unli Alfalfa Hay thing for babies (rabbits under 1 year is what I read).  

So you want to get a rabbit 7 - A Baby Rabbit Diarrhea Emergency

I love weekend nights. With no work obligation, I can typically stay up the whole night to play with and care for my rabbits.  I was a little tired last night though coming from a company year-end party and so I was only able to check on my baby Ethan once last night at around 2 AM.  He was fine.  No outward signs of a problem.  The poop was not golden brown, but it was within the realm of normal.  

I stayed with the girls’ room for the rest of the night (Ethan, being new, is still in isolation).  When I was jolted awake by my body clock, it was past 6 AM.  Naturally my first instinct was to check on Ethan.  

I was shocked at the sight.  He was sleeping bent (not unusual for a rabbit, but it was for him).  I also saw splotches of wet poop throughout his cage.  I knew there was trouble.  When I tried carryng him, he had some convulsive actions but couldn’t stand.  

I woke Jean up and told her to run and prepare the glucose solution.  Within minutes, I held him in a trance position (I wouldn’t do this if it weren’t an emergency).  For the next 2 hours it seems, I kept trying to force feed him the glucose solution using a dropper but he hardly responded with a throat motion (i.e. didn’t seem like he was swalowing).  During that whole time, his breathing seemed really shallow and was not moving.  At some point, his head started shaking (like saying no) which seemed like a convulsive reaction too.  I just kept hoping.  

Jean also prepared an Oxbow critical care bowl, but first he needed to respond to the glucose. After a a while, I lay him down on my lap (with mats of course so he won’t fall).  I offered him a pellet.  Ever so slowly, he finally moved and tried to get it.  The next few minutes would be more hopeful as he kept responding to pellets.  I spooned some critical care to him, but he would only take a few.  In the next half hour, I would give him a pellet every few minutes until he could stand on his own.

After he did stand, he stayed on a pooping position (yeah you know what this looks like) for over an hour and must have pooped over a dozen nuggets.  Jean and I had breakfast separately so that he’ll have company.  Throughout that time, he stayed in place and was pooping.  The output?  Wet, but formed.

At that point, I figured the worst was over (at least for the day). He’s still here beside me.  It was harrowing experience even though we’ve been through that several times with Lily over the year.  

Postscript:

If you’ve not read my prior posts,  let me just say that I’m already extremely careful with my rabbits’ diet.  Still, things like this happen.  It’s very important to check on your rabbits (especially babies) at least every few hours.  In my case, in 4 short hours, my rabbit got sick and was no longer able to stand on his own.  We were fortunate this time around.  

I am also taking a risk and just straight shifting him from Oxbow Timothy to Choppy Timothy.  Yes, his poop was nice with Oxbow but he’s also been very picky.  And so it almost looks like he’s lost weight since I got him.  Choppy seems to be more palatable to rabbits.  It’s a risk because it’s a change in diet, but then again it’s Timothy to Timothy.  If this gets him stronger faster, then maybe it’s worth the risk. The adventure continues...

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So You Want to Get A Rabbit 6 - The Hay Panic Buying Episode

As you may have seen in my prior posts, I now have 3 full-grown bunnies and one 4-month baby. This means that the supply and demand dynamics have changed.

In the past I would have like a 2-3 month supply of hay. However, that includes some cheap Star Grass Hay that I got from a local supplier that was not enjoyed by my bunnies. So I’ve thrown the whole lot out. They were starting to smell moldy anyway.

Because I also have a space situation at home and I don’t want hay getting old, I had to manage down the supply a bit to perhaps 1-2 months. Over the past few months, I’ve shifted some of my supplies from Choppy Timothy Hay to Chipsi Meadow Hay because I had some bad stock of the Choppy. The difference is that Choppy came in 750G containers while Chispi came in 5KG containers.

I apologize for the long intro. It’s relevant.

So here’s what happened. My last Chipsi Meadow Hay smelled bad. Yikes. All of a sudden, I’m 5KG down for supplies. It also turns out that I was out of Kaytee Timothy and just had one small bag of Oxbow Western Timothy. Ethan, being a baby has been eating purely the Western Timothy. I’m still letting his gut get used to small amounts of different hay. Even worse, I had three small bags of Oxbow Oat Hay, which for some reason my rabbits have been ignoring (weird, since they used to love Oat Hay, ableit with different packaging).

So here I was with 4 bunnies, a low supply of the staple hay. Easy. Just buy new stocks. Chipsi Meadow Hay is out of stock. I’ve asked 3 different suppliers. OMG.

I immediately called my regular Star Grass Hay supplier and ordered 6 KG (not the tasteless one from above). Now, by bunnies love this fragrant, shredded hay, but it also has some negative impact on the poop. Their poop becomes rather black and on the wet side. It leads me to think it’s too rich to be used as staple. To compare, using Timothy or Meadow (or even Verselle Laga Natural Hay (but they also don’t enjoy this too much)) as staple makes their poop big, golden brown and very nicely shaped.

Luckily, I was able to swap my wet-smelling unusable Meadow Hay from the supplier with 4 bags of Choppy Timothy Hay. So both deliveries happened yesterday. All in all, I received about 9 KG of hay yesterday. Even then I’m not very confident of my supply. My bunnies will mow through that in a few weeks. In the days leading to this, my supply situation became so tense that my wife was volunteering to fly to HK to get hay there. I sort of suspect her motives though. :-)

The whole point my fellow bunny lovers in the Philippines, the hay supply situation in our country is not very stable since we don’t seem to have a very developed rabbit market. The irony of this is that none of the pet stores carry hay. Oh you will find some once in a while, but usually not in good quality.

Here’s the lesson: 1) Have multiple hay suppliers; 2) Get your rabbits used to different staple hay while you have time (so that their tummy doesn’t have to adjust when you do change supplies); 3) Have at least 2 months worth of hay stored. If you love your rabbit, you’ll find that my tip makes sense. Have fun!

Hydrangea Pot Vermicomposting

As I mentioned in a prior post, my mophead hydrangea plants are situated in front of my house.  When I sweep the floor (filled with dust, hair, skin cells, dead insects), I promptly pour the contents as hydrangea mulch.  I would partially the dirty mulch credit for the hydrangea's continued health.  However, since I also throw some food scraps there (lemon, onion, other fruit peels), I've been seeing roaches much too frequently in the area, not to mention gnats.  So I changed strategies.  I covered the dirty mulch with lots of coffee grounds and paper scraps and put in a couple of African Nightcrawlers.   Well this isn't my first try at pot vermicomposting, so I know this could work.   I've also vermicomposted using what I call a reverse mulch technique with live plants on top (mango, cat's whiskers, habanero, etc).  Anyway, I continued caring for the plant, not really paying too much attention to the mulch.  I've thrown at least 20 roaches into that pot over the months so you'd understand why I don't want to touch it much.  That was until today.

For the past couple of days (after over a month since the mulch), I've been noticing that the soil on the pot (yes, I can see soil already) seemed grainy.  That's a good sign if you're used to seeing vermicompost.  So today, I got my trusty trowel and snooped around.  There were lots of worms and at least two inches of vermicompost on top.  Not bad huh?  The more you ignore them, the more they thrive.  I'm pretty sure most of them were African Nightcrawlers and not earthworms.  I can almost distinguish them physically now.  And besides, they were lolling around organic matter.  Earthworms tend to stay in soil, correct?   Since I was running low on ANC inventory anyway, I gathered an ice cream container full of worms and vermicompost so I can easily fill an order for a worm bin.  I also replaced the lost mass with about two handfulls of shredded paper along with a few scoops of used coffee grounds.

With my recent successes in pot vermicomposting, my thoughts have been wandering towrads my mom's absolutely large pots at the back.  I am thinking about the possibilities.    

Until next month! 

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Overfeeding Your Bin Tip: Vermicomposting Adventures in Quezon City

One of the most common tips you'll see when vermicomposting is to avoid overfeeding your worms.  Sounds familiar?  It's bad for your bin because too much materials decompose at the same time, causing your bin to smell bad.  At the same time, the decomposition will eat up the bin's oxygen, thereby depriving your worms.  I've experienced that first hand. 

Now, I never seem to have enough worms because people buy worm bins from me.  However, I have managed to vermicompost every organic waste in the house.  Here's one technique that has worked for me recently.

I put a week's worth of organic waste (with shredded paper of course) in my bin.  That's a lot!  I usually have to spread that out into several bins.  Instead of doing that though, I just put the contents inside a paper bag (thank you Starbucks) or a small cardboard box (Nesvita, light bulbs, etc), I close or seal it and then I put that inside the bin.  I don't bother to moisten the bag or box.  After all, when the organic matter decomposes, it will release moisture.  The worms eat from under the bag when the time is right.   It's great because the bin doesn't smell or attract insects. 

At one point, I had about 100 grams of worms left in a semi big bin (3x1x1.5 feet) because I scraped to provide a customer with his requirements.  About two weeks later, I put in an entire melon (rinds only of course) inside a starbucks bag.  They finished it and there was no smell at all.  Cool huh?  Just the other day, I also had a rotten melon (what a waste, right?).  This time around, I placed the entire melon (not just the rinds) in a big paper bag, wrapped the bag around a little to close the hole and dumped it into the bin.  I'm betting the worms will finish that in about two weeks.  Once again, no smell. 

Try it both ways.  Get identical small bins with minimal worms.  Put lots of food in both, but bag it in one.  See if the technique works for you too.  ;-)

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Ideal Temperatures for African Nightcrawlers: Vermicomposting Adventures in Quezon City

I've observed something over the past couple of months.  In April and May, I had to scoop back worms from the floor at least twice a day and I had to keep the night light on to discourage escape.    Furthermore, I had to leave the lid off my bins even at night apart from not adding any sort of moisture at all.  And yet, I still lost a lot of brave worms in those months.  I salute them.

The past couple of weeks have been marvelous though.  I've been adding food whenever I want.  I pour glasses of water in my bins.  Some are even flooded.  I keep the lids on and I don't have to leave the lights on at night.  The best part is that my worms stay put!  And then there's the lack of fruit flies and gnats. 

What's the basic difference?  A couple of degrees in the temperature.  Summer was brutal.  We had days of 33-34 degrees.  These days though, we get as low as 27-28. 

What's the conclusion?  African Nightcrawlers like low temps in the Philippines.  They can tolerate higher, but the other conditions must be just right (excellent airflow and optimum moisture).  It would seem that worms are more forgiving about air and moisture when temperatures are lower. 

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Vermicomposting in the Philippines: Multiple Tray Flow Through Worm Bin

My really small back porch has been getting really crowded and messy because of all my little worm bins.  And then I had an inspiration.  I decided to have a multi-level flow through bin made out of office trays.  Of course I've tried this before, but I only stacked two or three.  This time around, I stacked five fully filled trays.  That's lots of paper and stuff and very few worms (about 250 grams I would guess).  Will it work?  Perhaps.

Here are some "features" of this stacked contraption: I put four chopsticks through the holes of each tray.   This prevents the trays from being too compressed.  This way maximizes the air flow.  Also to that end, I removed all the packing tape on the sides of the trays since I'm not afraid that the worms will try to escape.  I'm also not afraid of the vermicompost spilling from the sides.  That's because I also have a slightly wider bin at the bottom that will hopefully catch vermicompost falling from the sides.  On top, I just cover the tray with a breathable eco-bag.  And that's it. 

It's just like an expensive worm factory, only much cheaper.   The downside though is that the contraption is accessible.  I've seen a cockroach and two lizards already.  Really?  Are those house lizards feasting on my worms?  Tsk.

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Worm Bin With Mushrooms

Tell me this is not an amazing sight.  I just need Sigourney Weaver to complete the cast of Aliens.  So I've had mushrooms in my worm bin in the past, but I waa blown away by a picture sent by one of my past customers.  This sees like a full blown infestation.  And so he's wondering if the worms are still alive.  I am betting they are.  Mushrooms and worms like the same environment so if the mushrooms are growing like crazy, so too should the worms.  It also shows that there's plenty of nourishment for everybody.  Once the carbon supply declines (thank you for helping with the decomposition dear mushrooms), the mushrooms should disappear.  So there shouldn't be any competition for food with the worms.  If those are alien mushrooms, all bets are off. 

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Growing Melons in my Flow Through Worm Bin - Terminated Experiment

I've been eating a lot of melons the past few months and I've been feeding my African Nightcrawlers a lot of melon rinds.  I've also been throwing lots of melon seeds in my various worm bins.  Because of this, a lot of seedlings have been growing in my worm bins.  So I figured maybe I'll try growing these melons to term in one of my flow through worm bins.
It's been going great too.  I was wondering what to do if the roots grow through the bottom of the tray so I decided to put the tray on an aquarium with lots of paper, food and of course, worms. 

Today, I've decided to terminate the experiment.  Why?  I looked at the aquarium earlier.  It was disgusting.  I even saw a cockroach!  Eek.  There was too much water flowing through the bin and into the aquarium...murky water. I decided to just move the seedlings into a 5-gallon container instead.  I'll just add more material every few days.  There are still worms in there anyway.  I just hope they don't bake since the container is out under the sun.

As for the aquarium, I did what other vermicomposter would do.  I added dry shredded paper all the way to the top of the aquarium.  I'll stop adding material for a few months.   I'll check back in a few months (hopefully it dries up before the rainy season. 

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Why You Need A Worm Bin...

I recently replenished my supply of African Nightcrawlers because a lot of my bins were bought the past couple of weeks.   That said, I didn't have a lot of bins lying around so I just put my worms in a pail.  They were pretty dense inside that pail.  And so the past two days have been quite challenging.  They've been crawling out like crazy, even with the lights on.  For the past two nights, it's been like an episode of Fear Factor.  But the ones I placed in a few bins didn't attempt to crawl out.  What's in the new bins?  I stole some old bedding from my established worm bins and voila, I had worm friendly bins.   I guess this experience underscores the advantage of getting an established worm bin as against buying worms and waiting for them to get comfortable inside the new bin. 

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Outdoor "Container" Vermicomposting Adventures

You would often read that composting worms thrive best in a contained environment, away from the elements.  Since my back porch is really small, I am limited in terms of the number of containers I can use.  So today, I'll show you a couple of outdoor experiments (outside my mom's house without her knowledge...hehe).  Well more accurately, I'll show you the containers I've been using.  I checked each one earlier so I'm sure worms are alive and working in all of those "containers".

A couple of months ago, I was repotting a plant and I inadvertently cracked the pot.  To keep using the pot, I buried it under the soil and tried growing a couple of herbs there.  Unfortunately, I think the spot was too shaded and whatever I planted kept dying.  So I just used it as a vermicomposting pot.   If you look at the picture, you can even see the crack.  The pot has no real cover.  I just use some pieces of plastic and a smaller pot as paperweight.  I've put most of my nastier waste there (from a vermicomposting standpoint), including onions and garlic.    As of last check, the 6-8 worms I put in have survived.  A few new ones have even hatched although I must say population has not exploded.

Herb Garden Updates

Summer is a great time for plants!  Most of my herbs are doing a lot better than they did 6 months ago.   Of course I have to be more dutiful in terms of watering (sometimes twice a day) but it's worth it.  Let me show you a couple of my favorite plants. 

Look at the before and after photos of my chocolate mint.  There's a two month difference between these photos but look how lush the plant has become.  I added vermicompost into this pot and moved it to the sunniest location in the garden.  What did the trick?  I'm honestly not sure.  All I know is that I've been nursing this plant since November and I'm glad it looks like the day I bought it (lush and vibrant).  Oh dear I have to greet my mint happy birthday.  It's over a year old now.    And for those would be gardeners, don't believe everything that you read.  My mints have shown no inclination in taking over the garden counter to what I frequently read back then.   I tried planting the mints on the ground several times, but they never thrived. 

Vermicompost Flow Through Tray Update: Vermicomposting in the Philippines

Today I want to provide an update on my vermicomposting flow through trays.   The tray is pretty full and the contents I would guess are about 80% processed.  In my case, that's good enough to use.   So what did I do?  Well, I wanted to remove the worms from the tray but I don't want to sort through the contents since there's a lot of material there.  What I did instead was to put another tray on top of it with a good number of wet cardboard and paper.  At the bottom of the upper tray, I also put in a watermelon rind and a couple of banana peels just to entice the worms. 

Two days later, I found worms already hanging at the bottom of the upper tray.  Migration has begun.  Earlier when I was looking, I also found lots of worms on the upper part of the lower tray.  Yey!  At least I know vertical migration works.

A couple of entries ago, I also talked about seeds germinating in my worm bin.  I took this picture earlier.  It's just getting silly.  There must be dozens of seedlings in my tray.  They're probably mostly melons.   I'm not sure what to do with the tray.  Should I harvest the vermicompost or should I just let the worms migrate for another day or two and then use the tray as a seedling bed?  Never mind that I'll leave a couple of worms there.  That should be good for the seedlings

right?

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Moisture Level in Your Worm Bin: Vermicomposting in the Philippines

Today I'll talk a little more about worm bin moisture.  What is the proper level of moisture?  How can you tell?  What happens if the moisture level is off? 

I've been vermicomposting for about seven months now.  It doesn't seem like a long time, but I have seen a good number of bin conditions.  I've had content worms and restless worms.   Let me share a couple of things I've observed over the months. 

I had a small bin before that was really wet.  The contents were minimal but water puddled at the lower end (the floor was slightly tilted I guess).  Guess where the worms stayed?  They stayed in the wettest part of the bin.  That tells me that worms are not averse to moisture per se.   I also have a big aquarium that has some leftover water.  It's flooded but I do have paper sticking out about 5-6 inches above water.  The worms are thriving in that aquarium.  In both bins, worms didn't try to escape.  

So is excess moisture always good?  Let me answer it this way.  I also have a couple of bins with excess moisture where worms escape on a daily basis.   The difference I believe is the amount of content.   In the bins where worms tried to escape, I had hundreds of worms inside aside from being packed to the brim with lots of paper.  My best guess is that in these bins, the packed paper combined with the excess moisture limited airflow within the bin. 

So how should you manage the moisture content in your worm bin?  The fuller the worm bin, the less moisture you're allowed, especially if the contents pack together.   You need a few holes for bins with limited content;  you need a few dozen more for bins with more content.   Check the sides and the lid for moisture.  If there's condensation, you can either add some dry bedding or leave the lid off (but keep the lights on).  In my case, I add dry bedding, leave the lid off in the daytime and I turn the contents to keep the contents from packing together. 

These days, I hardly even add water.  The food I put in is usually enough to keep the contents wet.  Sure the top dries out and I get worried.  But when I check the bottom, the vermicompost is usually not fluffy.  That means it's still wet.  I just turn the contents.   Since I have small bins too, I sometimes turn the bins upside down so the moisture goes down to the dry contents.   I wonder if my worms get dizzy when I do that. 

A cool thing I've also discovered is that I add dry whole paper just below the lid so there's a paper filter between the bin and the lid.  It discourages the worms from crawling out because they'd have to crawl through dry paper.  It also helps absorb excess moisture.  How do I know?  Even if the piece of paper doesn't touch the contents, it'll be soft due to moisture by morning. 

That's it for now. I've already said a mouthful.   Happy worming!

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Everything Germinates in the Worm Bin Experiment Results: Worm Bin Adventures in the Philippines

Guess what?  The Indian Mango Seed did not germinate within the required period.  At least the worms did not run away from the tray.  As for the various seeds, mostly melons and watermelons, a lot germinated but a lot didn't as well.  I still got about a dozen sprouts, which isn't a bad deal.   I don't know what a chico seedling looks like so I'm not sure if the seed germinated.  It is worth noting though that while a lot of seedlings sprouted, most of them died after 2-3 days, including the carrot top that sprouted.  Could it be the lack of sunshine?  Perhaps.  

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Kitchen Scraps Mulch - Update 3

It's been almost two months since I put African Nightcrawlers inside a pot while I was trying  below-the-soil-mulch.  The experiment was conducted with my habanero as participant.  Here's my two-month worth of experience conclusion:  African Nightcrawlers can thrive inside a pot (about 14 inches) for at least two months.  In my last post, I indicated that I saw vermicompost on the ground below the pot.  That means the worms were pooping at the bottom.  Not yet convinced? 

Earlier, temperatures reached a punishing 33 degrees.  Summer is here!  Since the habanero likes full sunlight, the pot is out in a sunny spot in the garden.  My initial worry was that worms will not survive the heat.  Earlier though I saw them.  When I lifted the pot earlier (about 3 PM), the worms were all below the pot.  There must have been at least a dozen of them there (adults and babies).  If I remember correctly, I must have put in about half of those.  The rest must be due to reproduction.  

But why below the pot?  It's the first time I've seen that.  First of all, there was cardboard below the pot.  They must think it's a good place to hang out while the scorching sun was creating a burning environment within the pot.  Even for African Nightcrawlers 33 degrees is much too hot I would guess. 

As for the habanero, well it's doing fine.  The chili peppers are big but still unripe.  However, the whole vermicompost thing has not really resulted in plentiful, green leaves.  In fact, in at least three plants, I've had some yellowing of leaves while using pure vermicompost.  I am thinking that my worms' general diet has been too low on nitrogen, therefore resulting in fairly low nitrogen vermicompost. So I just top dressed the habanero's leaf mulch with coffee grounds to give the plant that green pep. 

That's it for now.  Until next time.

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Everything Germinates in the Worm Bin Experiment Update: Worm Bin Adventures in the Philippines

It's been just over a week since I started testing the germinating potential of vermicompost.  It's simple.  I just put a couple of seeds in my worm tray.   This afternoon, I found these little babies. 

I think those are all watermelon seedlings.  I'm pretty sure a dozen or more should sprout.  My chico seed hasn't showed up yet;  neither have my indian mango seeds.  I'll give the rest of the seeds about a week more.    As for these seedlings, I'll probably plant them in some small pots within the week. 

Oh by the way, if you look at the bottom left part of the picture, you'll find the carrot top that started growing stalks.

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Everything Germinates in the Worm Bin Experiment: Worm Bin Adventures in the Philippines

This isn't exactly the part 2 of my worm bin seed germination experiment.  I was trying to see how long it would take watermelon, chico and mango seeds to germinate in my worm tray.   These days, I only put food in my worm bins when most of the food has been consumed by the worms.  In one particular bin though, it was taking a few days for the worms to even touch a carrot top.  I figured it was a tough vegetable and was taking its sweet time to decompose.  Tonight though, I found out why.  The carrot top sprouted some stalks!   Oh well, I might as well continue growing it.  I'll move it to a pot with filled with vermicast in a few days.   Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for mangoes and company to sprout!

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Are Worms Escaping Your Worm Bin?

I had a eureka moment this morning.  Most of my worm bins have been doing okay: the worms are eating and staying put.  In the past days though, I've noticed an increase in the crawl outs, even in established bins.  And so I've been wondering why.  I think I have the answer.

In a couple of plastic bins, I found the sides and lid covered with moisture.  I'm not sure if conditions became anaerobic because of the moisture, but I think the moisture does enable the worms.  They can easily navigate around the sides because there's so much moisture. 

I'll find out tomorrow if that indeed was the problem.  For most part of the day, I left the lids off in these bins so excess moisture can evaporate.  When I checked earlier, the top part seems somewhat drier.  I hope that solves the problem.

If it works, I now know that when I see moisture condensation on the lid, that's a sign that there's excess moisture in the worm bin.

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Everything Germinates in the Worm Bin Experiment: Worm Bin Adventures in the Philippines

I keep reading that a lot of seeds "volunteer" inside worm bins supposedly because of all the beneficial bacteria inside the bin.  Supposedly, bad microbes won't infect seeds inoculated with worm castings.   Here in the Philippines, a lot of people are interested in germinating mango seeds. 

Since germinating mango seeds is what got me into gardening again, I have a series of blog posts on how to germinate mango seeds.  But that was before my fascination with worm composting.

A few minutes ago, I pushed aside some material from my worm tray (at this time, the tray has probably about 75% worm castings).  The I put in two Indian mango seeds, a chico seed and a few dozen watermelon seeds.  However, the mango seeds interest me the most.  Oh by the way, I didn't bother to remove the fibrous shell.  Finally, I covered the seeds with the material I pushed aside earlier.

Supposedly, for mango seeds to germinate, they need to be placed in the sunniest / hottest location in the yard.  The seeds should also be kept in a ziplocked bag to ensure high humidity.   The environment in a worm bin is a lot different.  While also moist, worm bins are generally located in cool, dark areas.  Will it work?  I wonder if anyone else in the Philippines has done this test. We'll see in a couple of weeks. 

For me there are three measures of success:  1) the mango seeds germinate at all; 2) the mango seeds germinate within two weeks (it takes longer in the prior method I talked about); 3) my worms don't crawl away follow the introduction of a citrus element inside the small tray.

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